It is well-known that a typical consumer uses several financial accounts that are not all maintained by the same financial institution. This is often the case even though any of the financial institutions with which the consumer does business is capable of providing the same or similar financial services as its competitors. For example, a consumer may have a checking account maintained by Bank A, a credit card account maintained by Retail Store B, and a savings account maintained by Credit Union C, even though, for example, Bank A offers credit card accounts similar to those offered by Retail Store B and savings accounts similar to those offered by Credit Union C. Financial institutions have long been aware of this type of consumer behavior, but they have had trouble persuading their customers to behave differently, namely, to use only their financial accounts. For example, it is usually difficult for financial institutions to determine which of their customers are using financial accounts maintained by other financial institutions, the identity of those other financial institutions, and/or the details of the financial accounts maintained by those other financial institutions. Even when this information is known, financial institutions have difficulty persuading their customers to stop using financial accounts maintained by their competitors and start using financial accounts maintained by them. Accordingly, banks and other financial institutions have a long-felt but unmet need for an apparatus and/or method for persuading their customers to use financial accounts and/or other financial products offered by them instead of using financial products offered by their competitors.